Sunday, 5 April 2015

My Expat Guilty Pleasures.

This month's theme for the Travel Link-Up is Guilty Pleasures. Now I could tell you all about my love for eating everything wherever I go, or I could tell you about my obsession with beautiful hotels (and taking hotel slippers home with me....*ahem* yes I do have a huge pile of them), however, I thought it might be interesting for some people to know more about what it's like to be an expat, and what it's like going back to visit a country you once lived in.

It seems fitting as I'm currently back in Australia. I'm actually English by birth and passport, but I lived in Aus (Perth) for two years when I was 16, I did my last two years of schooling out here, and ever since we moved back to the UK I've been back 'home' to Australia every year without fail. When I was at Uni it started out as twice a year for 4-5 weeks at a time, but now that I'm a full-time working gal I can only visit once a year for 2.5 weeks.

It's funny. but I've always felt as though I was born in the wrong country. Ever since I first visited Australia at the young age of seven, I was hooked, mesmerized, enchanted by everything about this country. We visited regularly as Aunty Wyn and Uncle Gray have lived out here since the eighties, and then we finally decided to move here ourselves just for a coupla years to experience a different way of life. We absolutely loved it, but sadly we only had a 457 (4 year working) visa, and due to family back home we decided to move back to England so I could go to Uni in London.

Anywho, so despite my biggest guilty pleasure ever being Australia itself, my guilty pleasures when I'm over here are being a local again. And eating all the food. Like, ALL the food. My friends think I'm a total weirdo for wanting to re-visit every place I used to frequent on a regular basis, but after speaking with other 'expats' or people who have moved from where they once lived, they like to do the same thing, too, which makes me feel a little more normal.

So a usual trip back to Perth will see me visit the following (and god forbid I don't get to do these things - I will sulk, and sob, and sulk); Go to the IGA behind my old house in City Beach, go to the river and lookout, go to my old beach, go for brunch at The Kiosk, go to Scarborough beach, go to Cottesloe beach, go to Leighton beach, go to ALL the beaches, go to Floreat Forum and get a cheese and bacon twist from Bakers Delight, get a Chicken Rippa from Red Rooster, go get Lamingtons, Tim Tams, Cherry Ripes, Shapes, and various other goodies from Woolworths, amongst other things.

Take a look at the video below to see what I got this time!

I also like to drive EVERYWHERE. I usually spend a day just driving around everywhere. Guys I'm so sad it isn't even funny. I'm such a loser. As well as driving everywhere I also go shopping and stock up on Peter Alexander PJs, Nude by Nature makeup, and underwear from David Jones. I also love a good ole trip to Freo to check out some new brunch places (Freo always has the best brunch places), and it's a tradition to go to Little Creatures for pizza and frites with friends.

So yeh, this is me owning up to the secret loser inside of me - although I love checking out the new places in Perth, I also love to revisit all the old places. Any other expats out there who also love to just go somewhere and revisit everywhere they used to go all the time when they lived there?!

So funny to see which bits of Perth and Australia you love and miss! I think I have lived here too long to have that perspective (and I didn't even appreciate it much when I came back here after 6 years abroad). My family's here, the beaches are good and the weather is pretty good, but it's SO FAR from anywhere. (Plus these days so expensive too!)